Elderly woman found dead in burning North Spokane home

A fast moving house fire has killed an elderly woman in North Spokane.

"It's devastating, it's sad," Wendy Hutsell said.

Hutsell lives next door to the elderly woman and said she did everything she could to save her.

"The smoke was just unbelievable you couldn't breathe and you tried to yell for her and it like choke you out trying to yell for her. So, you try to stick your face out of smoke grab a gasp of oxygen," she added

The fire started around 7 p.m. Friday night at 6428 N. Smith.

Hutsell said the elderly woman's son, who lives in the same neighborhood, broke down a side door to get in the home. "He asked me to hold the hose and try to get the flames to go down while he went to look for her," Hutsell said.

Hutsell said the smoke was so thick the woman's son was forced out of the home. And, that's when she knew the elderly woman she called "grandma" had died.

"Doesn't seem real and all I could do was hug Roy when he came out because you can't make that pain go away. And, no matter how hard you try to make things to work or to save somebody it doesn't always work and it's sad, it's reality, it's horrible," she said.

Spokane County Fire District 9 is now investigating.

"The bulk of the fire was in the upper level of the home when we arrived, but I do not know the origin at this point and it's under investigation," said Capt. Kevin Von Steuben.